Zimbabwe to Throw Out Thousands of Land Seizure Challenges

Zimbabwe is preparing to nullify thousands of legal challenges by white farmers who had their land seized under the country's controversial land reform program.

A report in Zimbabwe's Sunday Mail newspaper says authorities will file court papers Monday to officially end the litigation under a new constitutional amendment that nationalizes all seized farms and bans any legal challenges.

An official in the attorney general's office says 4,000 cases pending before the courts will be nullified.

President Robert Mugabe began the land seizures in 2000 and transferred ownership to landless blacks. Mr. Mugabe says the land seizures were necessary to correct ownership imbalances created under British colonial rule. But critics say the program has been a failure and has led to the collapse of Zimbabwe's economy.